This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60/251,009, filed Dec. 5, 2000.
THIS INVENTION relates to a game and game apparatus. It related in particular to a board game and apparatus therefor.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a game which includes
means for establishing the nature of at least one pre-defined disaster to be prevented by players of the game; and
means obtainable by or accessible to said players, for preventing said disaster from occurring.
The disaster may be a disaster capable of threatening life on a selected planted, e.g. the Earth. Typically, the disaster is a disaster capable of threatening human civilisation as it is presently known on Earth. The disaster may be real or imagined. For example, the disaster may be selected from the group consisting of nuclear war, asteroid collision, volcano eruption, global warming, and alien invasion.
The means for preventing the disaster from occurring may include tokens, e.g. collectable cards, each card presenting at least one solution to said disaster. The number of solutions required to overcome the disaster may be determined in advance by a set of rules provided by the game, and may be determined with reference to the number of players of the game.
Preferably, although not necessarily, the game includes means for establishing a limited time within which players must prevent said disaster, before the disaster occurs. For example, the game may include a time-line or grid that is traversed by a counter in accordance with the outcome of consecutive throws of a dice, such that over the course of time the counter will reach the end of the time-line or grid to signify occurrence of the disaster. This feature of the game requires a player not only to play against other players but also against time.
Preferably, although not necessarily, the game is a board game and includes a playing board. The playing board may bear a schematic representation of a map of a planet, for example, the Earth. Preferably still, each continent of the map may be differently coloured. The board may bear representations of flight paths and airports, the flight paths being traversable by players"" playing pieces or counters during play of the game thereby to reach the airports.
Thus, the board game may further include playing pieces or counters. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each playing piece is differently coloured and the colour of each player""s playing piece corresponds with the colour of a particular continent represented on the playing board.
The game may include means (e.g. cards) permitting players to obstruct the play of other players of the game; for example, it may include cards which empower a player to send opponents to other areas of the playing board (e.g. to the airports of different continents). It may further include means to permit players to take cards from opponents.
In a second aspect of the invention there is provided game apparatus for playing the game described above. The apparatus may include a playing board as described above. The apparatus may further include playing pieces as described above, disaster cards for presenting various disasters to be pre-defined and prevented during play of the game, solution cards for presenting solutions for preventing said disaster, problem cards for introducing problems encountered by players during play, destination cards for designating destinations for players to reach during play, landing cards required for landing at a particular destination airport during play, dice, and the like. Each solution card may present solutions for a limited number of the disasters only (e.g. for four out of five disasters) so that not every solution card will be effective as a solution to the prevailing impending disaster.
The game apparatus may include playing pieces or counters (referred to as xe2x80x9caircraftxe2x80x9d herein), each of which comprises a base and a body portion shaped to resemble an aircraft. The apparatus may further include a playing piece or counter (referred to as a xe2x80x9cdisaster piecexe2x80x9d herein) that comprises a base and a body portion shaped to resemble a question mark. The game apparatus may also include a customised dice bearing the following on its six faces: xe2x88x921, +2, a green spot (two sides), a black spot, and an asterisk.
The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which like reference numerals identify correspondingly throughout. The following specific description is of an embodiment of the invention which is in the form of a board game. However, it is to be understood that the game may similarly be presented in the form of a computer game, a game for a games console, or the like.